Material guide



.o .4: 5 wl 0 W f f 2 4 v, 2, m ,2 w Nc 4 R on f. 0N 9 T0 0 a 6 N T ED T l Vl A u 6 NM 3 3 7 f M m 0 l R 4, F E 9 N D l 0 0 5 I V 4 3 3 .vf O U 9 B D G 2 2 M.. M 0 6 MH m .0 m l 0 .15 m m 6/ M T d m m w/ 6 4 6 Of I |.|.||||I|.`H D lh I l I I I lllllhl M W. l/l 9 l 0, 3 l 0\/l .L 2 6 w. l S F d 2 4 m. w. F F

Patented Sept. 30, 1941 2,257,446 MATERIAL GUIDE Merle Amidon, Elizabeth, N. J., `assignor toWestern Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New `York Application August 29, 1940, Serial No. 354,716

15 Claims.

This invention relates to material guides, and more particularly to guides for scrap stock in automatic material working apparatus.

` The eliciency of material handling machines, particularly those of the automatic type, `depends not only upon the accuracy of feeding the material thereto but upon the removal of the scrap material therefrom. This is more evident in machines blanking parts from thin sheet metal, in that the iiexible material might readily engage edges of the die or stripper plate, buckle and require stopping the machine While the disturbance is removed and the machine conditioned for further operation unless the scrap stock is accurately guided.

An object `of the invention. is to provide a simple, eicient and highly accurate material guide.

With this and other objects in view, one embodiment of the invention comprises a support for material moving relative to a die and stripper plate to direct the material away from the die, and associated means such as springs to direct the material away from the stripper plate and thus space the material against engagement with these portions of an apparatus.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from `the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a material working machine illustrating the invention;

Fig, 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. l, with the die members in open position;

Fig.. 3 is a fragmentary detailed view of the structure shown in Fig, 2, with the die members in closed position;

Fig, 4 is a fragmentary top plan View illustrating another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 5--5 of Fig. 4, and

6 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawing, particularly Figs. l, 2 and 3, the embodiment shown therein includes a base iB grooved to receive and suitably mount a lower die member H having a stripper plate l2 iixed thereto by suitable means (not shown). An upper die member i3, carried by a movable head |4,is constructed for association with the die member |I` to perform, in this instance, two operations on material l5 during intermittent advancement of the material in the 1 direction of the arrow (Fig. l). In one operation of the dies rectangular portions of the contour indicated at I I1 are punched from the material and during the next operation a punching of the contour indicated at I8 `is made, the portion punched from the material at this position being in the form of an E, leaving narrow longitudinally extending portions 20 joined by spaced lat-` erally extending portions 2| of the material which `willbe termed the scrap material.

The contours l1 and I8 are actually openings in the stripper plate l2, similar openings being present'in the die Il and projections of similar contour and arrangement included in the formation of the die member i 3. The openings thus referred to in the die member Il, particularly the opening associated with the contour or opening I8, provides a surface 22 which the material at line 23 may engage during its next intermittent movement if means is not provided to direct the material away from this surface.v The material l 5 may be a thin sheet metal. Such a material would be quite flexible and difficult to handie, due to the fact that in passing relativeto the opening I8'thematerial might tend to buckle and engage either'the surface 22 or a surface 25of` the stripper plate. While travelling this distance the material is unsupported only at the extreme edges, and if the scrap material is unsupported and allowed to move downwardly when passing from the die it will tend to buckle or' bend the material upwardly, whereas if the scrap material is supported the weight of the material between its supported edges would tend to cause it to bend downwardly.

To overcome these difficulties a supporting bar or element 3U is `movably disposed in a groove 3| in the die member Il and extends beyond the complete width of the die member, where its ends are supported by spring pressed plungers 32. The inner, or upper right hand, edge of the element is rounded as at 33 from a line adjacent the upper surface of the die member Il to its uppersurface, so that the scrap material will readily move relative to theelement. The plungers 32 `are threadedly connected to the element 30 atV their upper ends and extend downwardly through apertures 34 and 35 in the die H and base I0, respectively, Where their lower ends have enlarged head portions 36 which rest upon The springs 31 are disposed in enlarged portions of the apertures 35 andare supporte-d at the lower ends by threaded members 33 disposed in the apertures to support and vary the tension of their respective springs. Studs or suitablev projections 40 are carried by the movable head i4 and are spaced to engage the ends of the element in substantial alignment with the plungers 32 to movev the element downwardly during downward movement of the head, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The element 3i) constitutes means to control the material against movement in one direction and springs 42 fixed to the stripper plate l2 control the material against movement in the opposite direction. The springs 42 are of the contour illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, extending downwardly at an angle from the portions where they Y are mounted and bent short of their ends to pro-` vide curved surfaces to engage the material..

During the operation of the machine with this embodiment the material isl advanced Whilethe die members are in open position shown in Fig. 2, and during this advancement of the material the springs 42 will hold the material downwardly against engagement with the surface 25 and the element 3i! will direct the material upwardly away from the surface 22, the distance of movement ofv the element being limited by the heads of theA plungers 32 engaging shoulders in the apertures 35 to space the material substantially midway between the upper and lower walls of passageway through which the material passes. Y It is, therefore, not possible for the material, particularly the lateral edges thereof, to

engage the surfaces of the die Il or the stripper plate i2 during its advancement. When the material is at rest the movable head is moved downwardly to move the die member I3 to the die member Il but before the die member i3 meets the material the projections 40 have engaged the ends of the elementV 30, moving it downwardly against the force of the springs 31 to position the upper surface of the element in a plane with the upper surface of the die member II and allow the material to assume a 'position aided by the springs 42 in a common plane upon the die member II before the completion of thek movement of they die member l'3 to blank the portions from the material. The material remains at rest until the die members have been separated, that is, the head i4 and the die member 'I3 moved upwardly to clear the material, during which movement the element 30 is allowed to move upwardly to move the material associated therewith to the position shown in Fig. 2 to eliminate possibility of engagement of lateral portions of the materialV with any surface during its next movement.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 the structures of the machine including the die members, base and movable head'may be considered as identical in structure with that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the main difference lying in the material guiding means. In this embodiment a base et is grooved to receive a die member 6 l, the latter supporting a stripper plate 62. In a position substantially identical to the location of the element 36 in Fig. 1, the stripper plate 62 is apertured at $3 for the greater portion of its width, to receive a guide element 65. A groove 64, similar in contour to the aperture 63 is formed in the die to receive the element. The element 65 has a main central portion for supporting the material lit` ina similar manner to the element 36,Y yet in this instance the element 65 has in-A wardly projecting end portions 61 which surround the edges of the material and extend over the top of Vthe material a short distance as illustrated in Fig. 5, so that with the accurate positioning of the element it will control the material against movement in either direction, thus serving the function of the element 30 and eliminating the need of the springs 42 in the present instance. The edges of the element including the central portion and the end portions 6'! are curved to allow free uninterrupted movement of the material as shown inFig. 6. The element E5 floats in the aperture 63 and groove 64 and is supported and controlled by springs 68,'the latter having their inner ends fixed to the element and extendingin opposite directions outwardly away from the element in a common plane, where they are form-ed in loops 69 and have their remaining ends fixed to the stripper plate as shown in Fig. 5. It is the tendency of these springs through the resilient force in their loops, to urge their respective ends of the element Y downwardly, but such movements are controlled and limited by adjustable screws 'l0 threadedly mounted in apertures in the stripper plate.

It will be apparent that the element 65 will hold the material upwardly against engagement with a surface T3 of Fig. 6, this being accom-V plished by the supporting of the material by the main central portion of the element. rJhe element will further hold the material against engagement with a surface l2 of the stripper plate 62. If desirable similar means such as the projections 4t of the rst embodiment may be employed to move the element downwardly, so that the material will lie in a common plane on the die member l for the working portion of the operating cycle of the machine, the springs 68 being capable of returning the ele- V ment to its normal position before the material is again advanced.

The embodiments of the invention herein dis-r closed are merely illustrative and may be widely modified and departed from in many ways without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as pointed out in and limited solelyV f., plate, an element extending transversely beneath a sheet of material movable intermittently between the die and the stripper plate, means to locate the element to guide the material away from the die during movement of the material, and means disposed adjacent the edges of the material to guide the material away from vthe stripper plate.

3. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, an element extending transversely beneath a sheet of material movable intermittently between the die and the stripper plate, means to locate the element to guide the material away from the die during movement of the material, and a spring disposed in engagement with'the upper surface of the material to` guide the material away from the stripper plate.

4. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having relatively movable companion die members and a stripper plate fixed to one of the die members, of an element movable in a groove of one of the die members and extending transversely beneath a sheet of material movable intermittently between stripper plate and its die member, and means to locate the element to guide the material freely4 against engagement with the stripper plate and its associated die member during movement of the material, and means to move the element to cause the material toV lie on one of the dies before the dies are moved into engagement with each other.

5. I'he combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a punch, a die and a stripper plate, an element extending transversely beneath a sheet of material movable intermittently between the die and the stripper plate, means to locate the element toguide the material away from the die during movement of the material, and means to cause the material to rest upon the die prior to the engagement of the punch therewith.

6. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, an element surrounding an edge of a material movable intermittently between the die and stripper plate, and means to locate the element to guide the material free of the die and stripper plate during movement thereof.

7. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, an element having portions extending above and below a material movable between the die and stripper plate, and means to locate the element to guide the material free ofthe die and stripper plate during movement thereof.

8. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die` and stripper plate, `an element having portions extending beneath and surrounding the edges of` material movable between the die and stripper plate, and means to locate the element to guide the material free of the die and stripper plate during movement thereof.

9. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate,

an element surrounding a portion'of a material movable intermittently between the die and strip- -per plate, and resilient members to support the element to guide the material free of the die and stripper plate.

10. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, an element having portions extending beneath and surrounding the edges of material movable between the die and stripper plate, and means to` vary the resilient members to position the element to guide the material substantially midway between the stripper plate and the die.

11, The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having adie and stripper plate, of means to guide a sheet` of material movable intermittently between the die and the stripper plate free of the die, and means to guide the material free of the stripper plate.

l2. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, of means to guide a sheet of material movable intermittently between the die and the stripper plate free of the die, and a spring to force the material free of the stripper plate.

13. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, means to guide a sheet of material movable intermittently in a path between the die and the stripper plate free of both the die and stripper plate, and means to support the guide means.

14. The combination with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, means to guide a sheet of material movable intermittently in a path between the die and the stripper plate free of both the die and stripper plate, and means to vary the position of the guide means relative to the die and the stripper plate 'to vary the path in which the material moves.

15. The combination `with a sheet material working apparatus having a die and stripper plate, means to guide a sheet of material movable intermittently in a path between the die and the stripper plate free of both the die and stripper plate, and resilient means to support the guide means.

MERLE Ambert 

